Fire hearth. Katkari tribe
The Katkari are a primitive forest tribe based mostly in Raigad and Thane Districts of Maharashtra India. Their ongoing survival is threatened by years of systemic exploitation, racial prejudice, abject poverty and loss of their traditional lands. In 1870, in an effort to control nomadic tribes within India, the British occupying government created a Criminal Tribes act that deemed the Katkari, among others, to be inherently criminal and effectively branded them as second class citizens. Despite the abolition of the act after Indian independence, the institutionalized culture of discrimination against these tribal peoples by non-tribal Indians continues. Katkaris are expert fishermen, swimmers, divers, archers and marksmen. They are famous for their strength, endurance and hunting-gathering skills. Katkaris are the only tribal group who eat rodents (they even have a religious festival pertaining to rodents). Katkaris not only catch rodents, they also track down the food grains stored by rodents in their burrows. Food grains collected from the burrows are an important source of nutrition during food deficit periods. They have tremendous knowledge about uncultivated foods like fish, crabs, animals, birds, tubers/rhizomes, wild vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. It is indeed amazing to see Katkari women drawing out crabs from their holes during summer months by rubbing two stones to imitate the sound of cloudbursts Katkaris are also experts in stone crushing, tree felling and charcoal making. As a hunter gatherer people, they are traditionally reliant on non cultivated wild foods and forest products which are becoming increasingly scarce due to deforestation and development. Despite a long history of settlement in the area, the state has never formally recognized nor given them title to much of their traditional lands, robbing them of self-determination and making them vulnerable to encroachment by land developers.
Size: 5098px × 3413px
Location: India
Photo credit: © Shrikrishna Paranjpe / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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